"While those human rights violations and abuses have affected Crimean residents of diverse ethnic backgrounds, Crimean Tatars were particularly targeted especially those with links to the Mejlis", the UN report says.

It adds that the ban on the Mejlis "has infringed on the civil, political and cultural rights of Crimean Tatars".

He said: "Failure to prosecute these acts and ensure accountability has denied victims proper remedy and strengthened impunity, potentially encouraging the continued perpetration of human rights violations."

But Zaur Smirnov, a member of the Crimean regional government, told Interfax that the UN report was filled with anti-Russian rhetoric and had used data from Ukrainian monitoring groups.